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Originally Posted by docryan
I ask cause I've encountered that term recently, and had someone who came across as educated in line at store say it's someone without a fixed address or can't afford housing. Myself he and 2 others ended up in Safeway parking lot debating this for upwards an hour. They felt cause I'm choosing to sleep in my car that I'm homeless and a drain on social resources. I asked what about retirees that drive around in winnebagos, of but they are different cause they're retired and enjoying their lives and he feels most have a home somewhere in US they r just taking trips.
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If you have no fixed address, you are homeless. That is the basic definition of the word. As for being a drain on social resources, that would solely depend on whether or not you are collecting any and/or if you are gainfully employed.
The retirees in the Winnebago would have a fixed address, even if they are currenly travelling around in an RV. So you could not define them as "homeless" by the basic definition.
Quote:
Originally Posted by docryan
Put it in a different perspective: People go to work 9-5 everyday chasing after something called the American Dream of making it rich, which odds are noway in our favor but we keep getting up repeating same behavior day in day out. Then there's what I consider the craziest thing of all home ownership, it's a farce cause by the time ur at age of being able to truly afford a home let's say generously your 30 well home loans are for 30yrs typically and life expectancy for Americans let say is 67+/- so your stuck in one place your entire life paying on a home that you'll only truly own just long enough to die in, all while not seeing other places.
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Let me ask you a question: Would you prefer to pay your own mortgage and build a great deal of equity that you can tap into later in life, or would you prefer to do that for somebody else?
One has to pay to live. If you pay for your own house, you are building wealth. It doesn't mean you'll be filthy rich, but you likely won't want for much of anything in your golden years. However if you rent, you are merely paying for someone else's retirement, and not building anything for yourself.
If you are a homeless drifter, you aren't paying anything to rent or own. However, it is difficult to land a decent paying gig having no fixed address. Employers don't tend to look at that kind of thing favourably when it comes to hiring people.
Seeing how this is in the travel forum, how exactly do you plan the logistics of your travels without a fixed address to obtain a passport nor a decent job to pay for the expenses? My wife and I are going on a "cheap" vacation to Cuba in two weeks that cost us $1750. Want to go to Europe? You can plan on the airfare alone costing around $700 to $800, and that's without spending money once you get there. Good luck coming up with funds like that while living out of your car.